Speedybet Casino - Player withdrawal was delayed.

Dear team,

I am playing BlackJack at Speedybet since April 2020. I am a big gambler. My deposits so far are about € 600.000. My withdrawals are about € 530.000.

In June 2020, there was a verification process. I had to submit my bank statements and all other belongings (source of income). While this process was happening, Speedybet blocked my account and withheld all pending transaction, which is fine and understandable.

I provided all required documents and my accounts was unblocked and my withdrawals were processed. My winnings vary from € 2.000 to € 11.500 (highest). These are processed very quickly (same day) normally.

In October 2020, I got the message that Speedybet has to do a verification again. This time they called it a Souce of Wealth verification, which is fine again, since I know there are certain regulatory requirements.

I provided all the required documents, but this time there responding time was much slower. I received updates in a week, asking for more and more documents. I provided and then a week later they requested more (clarification). This happened a few times.

Finally they asked for some final documents to clarify some transactions in my account. These were regarding loans I provide to some friends. I am a professional gambler. I make big money, I spend big money and so now and then I help some friends out with giving them some loans.

Speedybet wanted clarification regarding these loans. I told them I am the provider. I am not borrowing money as you can see in my bank statements. This was not sufficient, they wanted to see signed loan agreements, which did not exist. These loans were on a verbal basis. I trust these people because they are my friends. Also repayments were visible in my bank statements.

Speedybet told me that they will not process my case if I do not submit signed loan agreements and they asked me to create them now with the parties.

Fine once again, I contacted my friends, explained the situation and asked them to sign the loan agreements with full repayment schedules and sent them to Speedybet.

Speedybet asked for more information regarding the parties who send the documents, copy of their ID's or Passports, which I also provided (not sure if they can do this regarding Privacy, but in the sake of completeness I submitted).

Now this last step happend 10 days ago, 24th November. Normally they give me an update every 5 days or maximum 7 days, but now I am not hearing anything. It is the final step and they just had to check 2 simple loan agreements.

I keep contacting them by chat or e-mail, but they keep telling me that they cannot give me an update and that the case is still with the relevant department. I am not getting more information than this.

I have 2 withdrawals pending, one of € 3.500 and one of € 10.125.

I am not sure if they are doing this because of the amount. I have had bigger withdrawals than this in the past (€ 10.000+). And it is not like that I am winning more than I am spending. I can understand that they want to check the source of my wealth. But I have provided everything and they still keep stalling and delaying.

It not acceptable that this process should take over a month. And that they are taking 10 days to give any substantive answer.

I am really getting frustrated, because they keep delaying and delaying and not giving me any answer. The only thing they keep saying is "be patient, you will get an update soon, you will be contacted by mail, sorry we cannot speed this up".

I hope you can do something about this, because this is taking way too long.

Kind regards,

Dan

Dear Dan,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience. I must admit, this is the first time I hear about requiring such documents from player, and I truly don’t think that this was necessary.

Before we move forward with this complaint, would you be so kind and send any relevant communication between you and the casino to kristina.s@casino.guru?

I hope we will be able to help you as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Kristina

Hi Kristina,

As you requested I have sent all information to your email address.

Please get back to me soon.

Regards,

Dan

Thank you very much Dan for your reply and emails. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Peter who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction soon.

Hi Dan,

I looked at your case and understand the situation. I will contact the casino and see if I can help. I would like to invite Speedybet Casino to the conversation to participate in the resolution of this complaint.

Speedybet promised that my case has been escalated to management and I would be contacted by someone from management this morning. I have asked them twice already through there chat option this morning and I am getting the same shitty answers like "your case is being handled" " we will get back to you asap".

Now they even refuse to talk to me through the chat option.

Hi!

First of all, we are sorry to hear about the bad experience this customer has had so far.

We acknowledge delays can sometimes happen with verification cases as they can be quite complex, where communication between us and the customer goes back and forth in regards to follow ups, complementary clarifications alongside the regular processing time for received queries.

We are always doing our utmost to reply to the customers in a timely manner, if not with a resolution of the case, at least to provide an update.

We can ensure we are doing our best to resolve the case with the customer in question and if any questions arise as to why certain documents are requested, we encourage her to reach out to us directly. If the customer has already sent a complaint, please be assured that a manager has already reviewed the case and taken the appropriate action internally.

Thanks for your reaction, but unfortunately I do not agree with your answer.

I have complained/asked for clarification several times. Two weeks ago, 24th November, I was asked to submit the "final" documents. I did not hear from Speedybet afterwards for 12 days. I can understand that you have a huge workload or you guys cannot prioritize anyone, but this is a pending case since 22nd October. Atleast you can pick up the documents straight away instead taking 12 days to give me a reaction. And even after 12 days, you requested for more another "final" document. So tell me, do I have to wait again for another 12 days to get a reaction?

I was promised that my complaint has been forwarded to management and I would be contacted by yesterday morning. I heard nothing so far and I keep hetting the same shitty answers as "your complaint is pending", "you will get an update by mail" "the relevant department is handling your case", "please wait for the email".

It has been 2 days no and no one from management has contacted me. So you do not keep your promises. My withdrawals are still not processed and my account is still unaccessible.

This is highly unacceptable. I am not going to wait another day. If this verification process is not done and I do not have the withdrawals in my accouny by tomorrow morning, I am filing a complaint to the MGA.

Regards,

Dan

Hi all, thank you for the replies.

Dear Speedybet team,

I understand that your people work hard to get the issue resolved and there might be additional documents required to verify the player's account etc. However, based on the player's posts in this case it seems it has gone too far. I mean asking for personal data of third parties who don't play in the casino is way too far-fetched. Is that even in accordance with the rules of GDPR?

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your answer. It is not even about that anymore. Ofcourse it is terrible that they ask for my family and friend's passports and ID copies, who has nothing to do with the casino.

But the thing is that they keep stalling the verification, with so-called new documents.

I have sent them all documents regarding the loans on 17th November 2020. They got back to me on 24th November and asked for an ID card of the parties. And some of the documents were not complete.

I found that weird but then again, I cooperated, because I wanted this to be finished. After that I did not hear from them for 12 days untill last Sunday 6th December. They asked for ID cards of my sister and my wife, because we transfer money to each other, which was seen on the bank statements. They have literally nothing to do with the casino and it is and this is an invasion of their privacy.

Again, I cooperated, because I really want this process to be finished, but I did complain about it.

Speedybet told me that my complain has been esclated to management and someone will contact me. But it is 9th December today, my verification is still not done, my withdrawals are still pending and still no one has contacted me.

This is really riduculous and I am really losing my cool now.

I have told earlier that I have a personal deadline as well for this verification. My own bank, which I use to make transfers for gambling is doing a KYC inquiry because of the large sums I deposit and withdraw from the Casino. They want to have full information about my winnings, transfers from and to the casino, the games I play, with screenshots from my transaction history and my current wallet. I have explained this to Speedybet as well and provided them documentation from my bank where they requested these things as well.

They KYC inquiry from my bank started end of October as well, and I requested Speedybet to finish the verification asap, otherwise my bank account will be blocked by the bank.

Speedybet did not give a shit. My bank gave me a deadline of 4th December, which I told Speedybet as well and forwarded them the mail from the bank and still nothing.

I got a final extension now until Friday morning 11th December 2020, before 9:00 am CET. I have to provide all documents to my bank otherwise my bankaccount will be blocked.

The bank has been waiting for weeks and they begin to feel suspisious, because I am not providing them the requested information. I am not able to until I have access to my Speedybet account and can check my history.

Apart from the fact this whole verification is taking this long, I will get into trouble with my bank as well.

I hope Speedybet can solve this now and finish this verification today and give me access to the account again and deposit my withdrawals.

Regards,

Dan

Hi Dan, I completely understand your frustration.

Dear Speedybet team,

Is it possible to speed things up to help the player avoid problems with his bank?

Hello,

Thank you for showing your concerns. We can confirm we are acting in accordance with the 4th AML directive.

We fully understand the player's frustration, and we are actively working towards resolving this as quickly as possible.

I don't think Speedybet understands the situation. It has to be solved by today or my bank will block my account. Their responding time is not quick enough and I am not going to wait for another 12 days to get a reaction. It needs to be resolved by the end of today. It has been since Sunday I have sent the last requested information and since then no reaction from Speedybet. No update and no clarification or explanation. The only bullshit answer I get is the same as the representative just provided:

"We fully understand the player's frustration, and we are actively working towards resolving this as quickly as possible"

This answer will not help saving my bank account. I NEED ACTION TO BE TAKEN TODAY!

10 days later and still no update...

Dear Speedybet Casino,

Has there been any progress?

Almost 2 weeks later now and no reply to my emails and no solution. Through the chat option I keep getting the same answers. "It's in progress, please wait for an update by mail". I am really done.

As you can see they did not reply for a week even here. What can I do next?

Hi Dan,

I recommend you to contact the Malta Gaming Authority (https://www.mga.org.mt/support/online-gaming-support/) and submit a complaint to them. It's a good licensing authority and has better options and tools to help players. Let me know if they reply in the meantime.

Hi Peter,

Since no response from Speedybet until today, I have sent the complaint to MGA and eCOGRA.

Hopefully they will help to solve the issue.

Hi Dan,

Let's see what the regulator's response will be. Please, keep me updated (peter.m@casino.guru).

Dear Dan,

We hope this message finds you well. We wanted to follow up on your case, which was marked as "Waiting for Regulator" on our website some time ago. We were wondering if there have been any updates or resolutions since our last conversation.

If your case has been resolved by the Licensing Authority, we kindly request you to forward us their official statement at peter.m@casino.guru. On the other hand, if the ruling was in favor of the casino, it would still be incredibly helpful for us to know. We understand that it has been a while, but updating your complaint will allow us to either issue black points to the casino (if the ruling was in your favor) or warn other players and users about cases where the Authority supports the operator.

We truly appreciate your cooperation, and your response would be of great assistance to us. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Peter

Dear Dan,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Regrettably, we have not received any communication from the player. Despite acknowledging that our last interaction occurred some time ago, we aimed to appropriately revise the complaint's status and classification based on the elapsed time. Regrettably, without the player's input, this becomes impossible, leading us to close the case as "rejected."

The player is welcome to reach out in the future, should they wish to reopen this complaint. We can appropriately reclassify it upon submission of substantiating evidence of the Licensing Authority's verdict. Until then, we appreciate your understanding.